And I wondered if you’d love me then dear, just as you do today?
Yes, Ernie, we do. Some wonderful person has updated Ernest’s Wikipedia page with the sort of information that makes people like me cry, basically. But what really made me purr was seeing that the link marked “listen on line” pointed here. To esotechnica.
The end of the page says:
Perhaps it can be seen as a fitting tribute to a man who must have been so popular in his day and who had faded into almost total obscurity in the years since, that now, 100 years later, his music is attracting increased attention on Internet websites where his songs can be streamed, downloaded as mp3, or experienced as videos of the original discs being played on authentic gramophones of the period and that these same records are now being eagerly purchased from online auctions.
No, I don’t think Ernie was ever that popular. I think he sold quite well, but if you asked people who bought his records, they would talk about the song, not the singer: this was really the way things worked until the charts started in 1952 – about 30 years after Ernie stopped recording.
To tell you the truth I think there are a few “Pikesters” (I’ve tried to phrase that as best I can) who have somehow come across Ernest’s music (not all of them have been badgered into it by me!)
And I think we Pikesters are a bit obsessed. I know I am. Case in point: I have approximately 300 78 rpm singles, most of which I will take any price for, mainly to offload them to somewhere they won’t get broken. But the 7 sides of Herbert Payne? I may never sell them. “Who’s Sorry Now?” Best Ernie record in my collection…